Jade backs bid to beat cancer

JADE Goody has backed a campaign to encourage teenage girls to get a vaccination which helps prevent the cancer that is killing her. Girls in Stockport are to be offered free beauty treatments in a bid to get them immunised against the human papilloma virus - known to increase the risk of cervical cancer.

JADE Goody has backed a campaign to encourage teenage girls to get a vaccination which helps prevent the cancer that is killing her.

Girls in Stockport are to be offered free beauty treatments in a bid to get them immunised against the human papilloma virus (HPV) - known to increase the risk of cervical cancer.

Former Big Brother star Jade, 27, was recently diagnosed with a terminal form of the disease.

The mum of two said: "I am really encouraged and happy to hear about the initiative in Stockport. Anything that shows girls are getting the message about advanced screening and the HPV vaccination is definitely a good thing." Under the Stockport NHS proposals, girls will be offered treatments including manicures and pedicures.

Girls aged 12 and 13 are already offered the HPV vaccine at school.

The programme has had good results but a public health expert says it is proving difficult to reach girls over 17 who are no longer in full-time education.

Dr David Baxter, consultant in communicable disease control in Stockport, said: "The vaccination can prevent around 70 per cent of the viruses that cause cervical cancer.

"We have tried writing to girls who are missing out on the vaccine but it doesn't seem to work.

"We have also tried texting and ringing but we still can't reach everyone, so we have been talking to a college in Stockport to see if their beauty therapists would be interested in giving manicures and pedicures to girls who receive the vaccination.

"As a doctor who administers this vaccine, I strongly recommend that all girls take up the offer of it.

"Together with the cervical cancer screening programme, this should help further control this terrible disease."

More than 3,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in Britain a year and there are more than 100 different types of HPV, which is passed from one person to another through sexual contact.

The HPV vaccination involves undergoing a course of three injections over six months and is available free on the NHS.